Political Arena: Pols push for transparency; energy equity

Cohen tries to rally support for TRUMP bill

Councilman Andrew Cohen introduced a resolution in City Hall last week designed to pressure lawmakers in Albany to pass the Tax Returns Uniformly Made Public, or TRUMP bill. 

The resolution, co-signed by 30 other council members, aims to rally public support and pressure a Republican-controlled state senate into passing the legislation. 

Cohen’s support of the bill stemmed from increasing concerns regarding President Donald Trump and his potential ties to Russia, according to a release. 

“Potential conflicts of interest due to a presidential candidate’s businesses and holdings can only be reviewed through the public disclosure of tax returns,” Cohen said in a statement. “The practice of presidential candidates releasing tax returns is not only a longstanding tradition, but it is viewed favorably by the majority of the public.”

Assemblyman Jeffrey Dinowitz believes the bill will fail because of the Republican- controlled state senate, but that he a cosigner of the assembly bill. 

“We love when the Council introduces resolutions,” he said. “The bill is making a point, which is that we have a president who is the first president in the lifetime …  of many voters who has refused to release his tax returns.”

Nearly half the states in the country have introduced similar legislation pressuring future presidential candidates, including a potential Trump re-election campaign, to either release their tax returns or leave their name off the ballot in those states, said Daniel Johnson, Cohen’s staff chief.

The bill “demonstrates a commitment to transparency the American electorate has come to expect, and it reassures voters that candidates do not have any conflicts of interest that would preclude them from putting the needs of the country before personal gain,” Cohen said. “The state must pass Sen. (Brad) Hoylman’s TRUMP Act immediately, and I hope that other states follow New York’s lead.”

Dinowitz speaks out on upstate nuclear plants

Dinowitz spent much of last week drawing attention to efforts by upstate politicians in Albany pushing for millions of dollars in funding for seven nuclear plants. 

The problem, the assemblyman said in an interview, was that city taxpayers would bear the brunt of the cost of running the nuclear plants, without receiving any of the energy. 

That’s because the power plants would service populations upstate.  

The plan, part of the Public Service Commission’s Zero-Emissions Credit program, to have 50 percent of New York State’s energy be provided by renewable energy sources by 2030, would raise downstate taxpayers’ energy costs by 60 percent, Dinowitz said. 

“I think most people don’t enjoy paying higher electric bills,” he said. “The city media, because these nuclear plants are upstate, didn’t pay much attention to it even though it’s people in the city and the surrounding suburbs who are going to be paying for the cost of this.”

Dinowitz chaired a seven-hour hearing on the matter last week in Albany, releasing a statement on the issue, demanding renewable energy efforts at the state level be driven by environmentalism and not business interests.